If you were listening to the former Fed chairman’s testimony before Congress yesterday – and I don’t blame you if you weren’t – you heard Greenspin very articulately say the whole financial crisis caught him by surprise.

“What went wrong with global economic policies that had worked so effectively for decades?” Greenspin asked Congress. “The breakdown has been most apparent in the securitization of home mortgages,” he said.

Everything the 82-year-old Greenspin said was meant to rehab a reputation and cover up the fact that he not only let Wall Street’s Boy Wonders get bombed, he also gave the greedy rascals the keys to our future. And they promptly drove the economy into a tree.

Let’s give credit where credit is due, though. At least, Greenspin is speaking English. Back when he was running the Fed, Greenspin was both loved and maligned for his often-cryptic speaking style.

But now, with his rep on the line, he wants to be understood. Perhaps never more than when he told Congress, (insert gulp! where appropriate), “We are in the midst of a once-in-a-century credit tsunami.”